Italy poised to get new government soon
Rome: Italy appeared poised on Saturday to finally get a new government, a broad coalition which brings media mogul Silvio Berlusconi’s forces back to power, this time in tense alliance with center-left rivals.
Viewed as a political bridge-builder, Letta is a nephew of a longtime Berlusconi adviser, Gianni Letta. The premier-designate met for two hours on Saturday morning with Berlusconi as both sides hashed out Cabinet assignments.
The elections left the top vote-getter, Letta’s Democratic Left party, badly fractured by infighting after it won control of the Chamber of Deputies but failed to do the same in the Senate.
That result made runner-up Berlusconi a political kingmaker, since the center-left needs backing from his center-right bloc for a Parliamentary majority. The third big bloc in Parliament, the anti-establishment 5 Star Movement, is led by comic Beppe Grillo, who ruled out any alliance with the largely sullied political class that has ruled Italy for decades.
Napolitano agreed to serve an unprecedented second term given the political instability. Anxious financial markets and Italians fed up with joblessness and austerity spending cuts are counting on the next government to quickly roll out political and economic reforms.
